Militano looking to leave Nashoba on a high note

BOLTON -- Nashoba Regional junior Sarah Militano is treating Saturday's New England Championship as if it were her last meet ever.

Militano has been a star since stepping foot on the Bolton campus as a freshman, but will be moving to Long Island, New York after the academic year.

In a career filled with accolades Militano is looking for one more, a medal at the premier regional meet, taking place at Bridgewater State at 10:00am.

"I'm approaching this the same way as indoor season, like it being my last time," Militano said. "My goal this year was to go to nationals for indoor, and I did and qualified for that. (Knowing that I was moving) motivated me to get the best times that I could here. I broke records freshman and sophomore year, and I wanted to do that again in everything, which I've done so far, but I'm hoping (Saturday) I can do it one last time."

Militano set the school record in the 100m dash as a freshman, but had to sit out her sophomore outdoor season with a stress fracture in her foot. So far this year she reset her freshman record in the 100m (12.27) and also set a new school record in the 200m dash (25.60).

"It was surprising to drop my 100m time down to the low 12s," Militano said. "Dropping 0.7 seconds was a shocker for me. I've gotten so much stronger over the last few years, and after the injury I got even stronger because I was weight lifting.

Advertisement

"

Both current records came last week at the all-state championship, and the Chieftain junior will be competing in both events again at New England's. Militano enters as the sixth seed in the 100m, and seventh seed in the 200m.

"Both her times from last week were PRs (personal records)," Sprinting coach Ben Langelo said. "It will be a tall order to repeat that, but she's surprised me before, and probably in the best shape of her high school career. I have absolute confidence that she's going to do well, and finish off with a bang."

It was tough coming back from the injury which took away her sophomore year goals. But instead of rest or ease back into things, it was full steam ahead for Militano as she returned. In addition to her strict training regimen she also started cross-fit training at the school, which seemed to help.

"I tried to take it easy in indoor, but realized that you shouldn't be doing that," Militano said. "Once you have enough time to recover, you have to focus on the running and not be paranoid that something is going to happen again. So once I stopped thinking about it, is when all the PRs came and I started feeling refreshed from missing all that time."

Militano has lightning-quick speed as it is, but her start to a race may be unmatched by any runners she faced all season. She also has a high level of sprinting endurance since she ran in five races at all-states (2 finals, 2 prelims, and the 4X100 relay), and will have enough gas for four potential races on Saturday.

"She's a fantastic starter, absolutely fantastic," Langelo said. "That's why she's so good at the shorter distances, because it's all about the start. She can hit those first 10 steps (in the smaller meets) and blow everyone else away. She's probably the fastest out of the blocks I've ever seen in seven or eight years."

The Nashoba junior has taken a leadership role since her freshman year, and has provided a strong example to her teammates in how to prepare to be a championship level athlete both on and off the track.

"She's the quintessential athlete, and is an incredibly hard worker," Nashoba head coach Dan Glover said. "She has a positive attitude and is a great role model for the kids. We're going to miss her a lot next year, as an athlete, a leader, and even more as a person."

Militano looks to have a strong chance to end her career at Nashoba with an exclamation point, but will miss the support of her teammates that have been with her every step of the way this season.

"I'm going to miss this team," Militano said. "We accomplished a lot these past two years, with league championships in indoor and outdoor this season. Everyone came together, and they've been really supportive. Some are still practicing with me today."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.